By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
BAMAKO, Mali – New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a statement on Tuesday urging the Malian government to look into allegations that soldiers tortured several detainees.
In a study conducted by the group, it is revealed that seven men who are suspected members of rebel groups were “beaten and kicked, burned, injected with a caustic substance, and threatened with death” while in the custody of Malian troops.
From March 11 to March 23, HRW gathered testimonies from detainees about the harsh treatment they received from the army. Tuareg in ethnicity, all seven detainees recalled being taken from Léré to an ad hoc military headquarters in Markala where they were questioned about their suspected affiliation with rebel groups. After denying such accusations, one detainee recounted how they were hogtied and hurled onto the ground “like [they] were bags of rice”.
According to the report, the soldiers also injected two detainees with an unknown caustic substance which damaged their skin. One of the detainees said, “I came to[,] while being dragged along the ground after my hands had been bound with my turban. The next day near sundown a soldier came in, took my arm and injected a substance. I thought it might have been for the pain. . . . I didn’t speak his language so couldn’t ask him. Then he injected my friend who was sharing the cell with me. It started blistering and by the next morning had eaten my skin. I felt as if I would die from the pain. . . . All I want is to return to my village.”
Another detainee described how he was subjected to “waterboarding”. “They told me to crouch down, slammed my head hard against a wall, pulled it back then grabbed a bucket of water and poured it down my nose and into my mouth. . . . While doing this they asked me, ‘Tell us what job you were doing with them and why you had money on you,'” he explained.
HRW’s Senior West Africa researcher Corinne Dufka told the press that the army’s use of torture will only exacerbate the crisis in the country unless the government does something about the issue. “The Malian government should promptly and impartially investigate these and other allegations of abuse or face an increasingly unaccountable military and deepening communal tensions,” she advised.
Last week, the U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to appoint an independent monitor for Mali which was met with partial criticism from HRW. According to the human rights group, this resolution fell short of addressing reports of abuses by Malian troops. “While we welcome this resolution, the Council’s failure to clearly condemn serious violations recently committed by members of the Malian army is a disservice to the Malian people,” HRW said in a statement.
For further information, please see:
Global Post – Malian soldiers get human rights training – 27 March 2013
Human Rights Watch – Mali: Soldiers Torture Detainees in Léré – 26 March 2013
The Windsor Star – Human Rights Watch: Malian soldiers inject suspected extremists with acid – 26 March 2013
Daily Maverick – UN Condemns Mali Rights Abuses, To Step Up Monitoring – 22 March 2013
